By Mike Busch

Friday evening was a perfect night for a run over to Bellport Beach.

Besides a chance to let my family enjoy some of the nicest weather of the year I wanted to get a fresh look at how the beach and the dunes held up over the winter.

Most people my age remember the dunes in this section of Fire Island as huge mountains of sand at least 50 feet high as far as the eye could see.

Those days are clearly over,  There are still some larger dunes in the middle of Fire Island West of Bellport but the rest are gone.

In the second photo below note how small the beach is looking west.  There is a clear line of dune erosion as far as the eye can see.

The third and fourth images are looking east where the dunes have been completely flattened.

Check out the bay side images on page 3 including the old Coast Guard station dock and the Bellport Beach Marina.

 

Bellport Beach Pavilion

Looking West toward Watch Hill

Looking East toward Old Inlet

Dunes flattened

Early Swim

Erosion